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Jennifer Lindsay:

The facts of Mata Hari’s life as exotic dancer and spy during WWI and execution by firing squad are well known, but her earlier life as Mrs. MacLeod in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), less so. This is the main focus of Remy Sylado’s work of popular fiction, first published in serial form, which tells Mata Hari’s life story (with considerable license) in her voice. The publication of Sylado’s book in a creative English rendition by Dewi Anggraeni gives readers an example of Indonesian popular writing and male exotic imagining of a female exotic performer.

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Manneke Budiman, University of Indonesia:

Mata Hari was a fearless woman born a century too soon. Questioning the notion of nationalism at a time when the whole world was mesmerized by it, she became a legend that remains with us today. My Name is Mata Hari brings this extraordinary woman back to life for a world still threatened by wars of nationalism. Dewi Anggraeni’s powerful English rendition from the original Indonesian Namaku Mata Hari provokes a deep affect on the reader.